Amid a marked slowdown in refugee admissions since President Donald Trump took office, a woman and her 16-year-old daughter, who had fled Colombia, got off a plane Wednesday night at Newark Liberty International Airport to begin their new life.

They had escaped the fighting that has raged between the government and guerrilla groups in Colombia and had been living in Ecuador, where they earned money selling street food and collecting recycling. They applied for refugee status four years ago.

Others like them are having a harder time getting into the United States these days. Some families who have been approved to enter the U.S. after years of medical exams, interviews and background checks now face greater delays. The slowdown has also affected resettlement agencies that rely on funding they receive for each refugee to provide services and staff to help refugees already on the ground.

Trump signed two executive orders calling for the U.S. to halt refugee resettlement and cap admissions at 50,000 people a year. Although the orders were blocked in court, the number of those let into the U.S. has tapered off amid uncertainty about the long-term goals of the refugee program.

Roli Rastogi, left, a volunteer with JC Moms, writing a welcome message on a poster during Friendship Day at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Jersey City on Saturday.(Photo: Michael Karas/Northjersey.com)

"These families have been away from home for years and are really looking for a home to just settle down and start living their lives again," said Maria Biancheri, senior grants specialist at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Newark, which is helping the family from Colombia settle in Essex County.

Numbers dropping

Former President Barack Obama — under pressure to do more to respond to a global refugee crisis — called for raising the number of refugees from 85,000 to 110,000 in 2017. But Trump, shortly after taking office, signed two orders to lower the number.

In those orders, he also sought to suspend the refugee program for 120 days, saying the vetting of refugees needed to be improved. In the past two months, as the administration faced legal challenges to Trump’s orders, the number of refugees brought to the U.S. has declined.

In October, the U.S. took in 9,945 people as refugees; last month, a third of that amount, or 3,316, were admitted. The decline was also seen in New Jersey, which took in 57 refugees in October, and just 34 in April.

In a statement provided to The Record, the State Department said that Obama’s number was a "ceiling" and "not a mandatory target." Due to litigation, the State Department said it could not speculate on the final number of refugees who will be admitted.

An official said the department adjusted the pace "in conformity with Department of Justice guidance regarding the court order and consistent with our operational capacity."

Catholic Charities, one of nine resettlement agencies in the U.S., expects to place 12,500 refugees this year — half the number it initially expected to receive, said William Canny, executive director of Migration and Refugee Services of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Locally, Catholic Charities of the Newark Archdiocese said it also had to adjust its numbers. The agency, which is helping to resettle its first families in decades after restarting its refugee program, is expected to take in 20 people instead of 51.

The International Rescue Committee had expected to settle 400 refugees in New Jersey this year, but now is planning to take in 250, said Avigail Ziv, executive director of the International Rescue Committee for New York and New Jersey.

Impact on families, services

While federal judges weigh Trump’s refugee orders, agencies at home are dealing with the aftermath of the slowdown that has already taken place.

The agencies get funding for each refugee they place, and the money is used to provide services like job counseling, classes and administrative help in the United States to those who have recently arrived. With less funding, some have had to make cuts.

"It’s important to remember we have refuges resettling who still need services. But given reduced numbers for affiliates already, staff cuts have taken place," Canny said.

In New Jersey, IRC has used donations to make up for the loss in federal funding so they can maintain services to help families settling in the U.S., Ziv said.